JEREMY HEIMANS

Jeremy Heimans is a prolific political and social activist. He is CEO & co-founder of Purpose, a social business building global movements trying to change the world, and is also a co-founder of Avaaz.org, one of the largest and most powerful online activist networks in the world. He believes in the power of collective action to tackle the world’s biggest problems.

PIA MANCINI

Pia Mancini is committed to open-sourcing democracies in the digital age. She wants to enable every citizen to participate in day-to-day politics and has co-founded OpenCollective with the mission to organize the Internet generation, now helping fund open source projects. She also co-founded the Democracy Earth foundation and the Net Party, an Argentinian political party.

MARK WATTS

Mark Watts has served as the Executive Director for C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group since December 2013. Prior to joining C40, Mark was the Director of consultancy firm, Arup’s, energy and climate change team. Earlier in his career, he was the climate change and sustainable transport adviser to the Mayor of London, in which role the London Evening Standard described him as “the intellectual force behind Ken Livingstone’s drive to make London a leading light of the battle against global warming.”

FRANCESCA BRIA

CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER AT CITY OF BARCELONA

Francesca Bria is a Senior Researcher and Advisor on information and technology policy. She is a member of the Internet of Things Council and an advisor to the European Commission on Future Internet and Smart Cities policy. She is also active in various innovation movements advocating for open access, open technologies and digital rights.

CARLOS MORENO

Special Envoy for Smart Cities, City of Paris

Carlos Moreno is a Senior University Professor specialised in the intelligent control of complex systems. Deeply committed to science, progress and creativity in all its forms, Mr Moreno strives to bring together scientific disciplines and professionals in the innovation ecosystem —from industry to start-ups —with a particular focus on a cross-disciplinary approach. After leading his start-up Sinovia to success, he was Scientific Adviser to the Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE INEO, ex-GDF SUEZ Group, and he provides on-going support to leaders of value-creating innovation.

HARMEN VAN SPRANG

Harmen van Sprang is a co-founder of shareNL. He’s an independent expert in the field of sharing (or: collaborative) economy. He advises startups, companies, cities, and (inter)national governments and frequently brings them together to inspire them and create impact.

Harmen is also one of the initiators of Amsterdam Sharing City and more recently of the Global Sharing Cities Alliance. He is a member of the advisory board of Sharing City Seoul.

Harmen loves to share his insights and experience. He is a global keynote speaker and already did 150+ presentations and workshops all over the world: from Paris to Rome, and from Toronto to Tokyo. Furthermore, he is the co-author of a business book called ‘Share.’ And he’s a spokesperson for the international press and has been interviewed 100+ times.

GUILLAUME LAVOIE

CITY COUNCILOR OF MONTREAL

Guillaume Lavoie is a city councillor in Montreal, Qc, Canada. Before entering politics, Guillaume Lavoie worked in public diplomacy, public policies and international relations, in Canada and abroad. As a city councillor, he authored Canada’s first city by-law on the sharing of private spaces. He is also a lecturer at the National School of Public Administration (Énap) on the sharing economy and public policy.

Guillaume holds an MPA (Énap), a B.A. in industrial relations, and certificates in administration, and in law (Université Laval). Guillaume is a Fellow of the Forum of Federations, Action Canada, the Jeanne-Sauvé Foundation and Next City. Aside from the sharing economy and cities, Guillaume is particularly interested in urban economics, urban art, and bikenomics.

ANDREA BAUER

Andrea is an innovation designer, tech philosopher and author. She is the founder of BEAM Studio, an innovation firm that applies novel technologies and methods, to set-up spaces and processes to create cutting-edge services, products, and business models. Working the future of mobility since 2005, Andrea worked with a wide range of industry partners from telecommunication companies to car manufacturers, to create forward-looking solutions.
Always fascinated by the question how technology can improve our everyday lives, she follows a purpose-driven focus, to accelerate her efforts towards a more responsible future. Therefore she is also partner and co-founder of the business collective katapult:NOW and the event platform D.DAY Network, an international do- and think-tank of creative influencers, who aim for positive impact by reflecting and actively using the effects of a digital era.

JEAN-MARC GANCILLE

He is a convinced environmental activist. Together with his associate Philipe Barre, he co-founded “DARWIN Eco-système” in Bordeaux, 4hectares of a former barrack turned into French biggest hybrid space for responsible economic development, social entrepreneurship, ecological transition and civic activism. He is involved in several civic projects: he is the founder and administrator of Enercoop Aquitaine (renewable energies), founder of an urban agriculture experiment, president of Les Détrivores (local composting) as well as vice-president of Wildlife Angel (NGO protecting African wildlife).

NANJIRA SAMBULI

Nanjira is a researcher, policy analyst and advocacy strategist interested in and working on understanding the unfolding impacts of ICT adoption and how those impact governance, innovation, entrepreneurship and societal culture, with a keen focus on gender implications. She is currently the Digital Equality Advocacy Manager at the Web Foundation, where she manages advocacy efforts to promote digital equality in access to and use of the Web, with a particular focus on the Foundation’s Women’s Rights Online work.

Tom Thomison

Co-founder of HolacracyOne, the organisation that developed the gold standard for self-organization. Now onto a new venture: self-organizing beyond Holacracy – introducing the For-Purpose-Enterprise as co-founder of encode.org

TIAGO PEIXOTO

Senior Governance Specialist at World Bank Group

Tiago is a Senior Public Sector Specialist at the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice. His activities focus on working with governments to develop solutions for better public policies and services. Prior to joining the World Bank, Tiago has managed projects and consulted for a number of organisations, such as the European Commission, OECD, United Nations, Bertelsmann Foundation, and the Brazilian and UK governments. Tiago is currently a faculty member of New York University’s Governance Lab. A board member for Our Cities Network and former board member of Intelligent Digital Avatars, he also sits on the advisory boards of a number of organisations such as The Participatory Budgeting Project and Our City Thoughts. He was featured in TechCrunch as one of the “20 Most Innovative People in Democracy”.

MALIK YAKINI

Malik Kenyatta Yakini is co-founder and the Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN). DBCFSN operates a seven-acre urban farm and is spearheading the opening of a co-op grocery store in Detroit’s North End. Yakini views the “good food revolution” as part of the larger movement for freedom, justice and equality. He has an intense interest in contributing to the development of an international food sovereignty movement that embraces Blacks communities in the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa.

LAURA WINN

Laura Winn has worked for 15 years with social enterprise and multi-stakeholder projects, and has moved from grass roots to business advice, through futures and sustainability, and has landed in the world of systems. She is passionate about new economic models, the regenerative economy, living systems and facilitating learning. She has experimented urban and rural living, and for the moment has landed back in a capital city to lead the development of an International School of System Change. She is enjoying making this a system change endeavour, convening key contributors from all over the world, and experimenting a peer-to-peer community of practice.

DYLAN HENDRICKS

Dylan’s interest in media has always revolved around a belief that good storytelling is the most essential tool for advancing society. In that effort, he has been eagerly riding the crest of innovation that has radically disrupted the media landscape over the last several decades. Along the way, Dylan has produced significant media pieces for industry leading companies and national governments and helped innovative non-profits to better tell their story through video and animation.

As director of the Ten-Year Forecast program at the Institute for the Future, he is always pursuing new ways to synthesise and communicate the trends and paradigms that are transforming the fabric of twenty-first-century life. Dylan has a B.A. in Psychology and Religion from Bryn Athyn College, PA.

ALASTAIR PARVIN

Alastair Parvin is a designer and civic entrepreneur based in London, UK. He is the co-founder of WikiHouse Foundation and a member of strategic design group 00. He is currently working on better housing systems, democratic cities & technology made by and for everyone. He also thinks, writes, speaks and advises on strategic design, housing policy and what the digital revolution means for cities, society, markets, sustainable development and our ability to tackle the most social, environmental and economic challenges of the 21st century.

ANIL GUPTA

He is a globally renowned scholar in the area of grassroots innovations. He is the founder of the Honey Bee Network and he is also a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Anil is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on strategy, globalisation and entrepreneurship. Ranked by Thinkers 50 as one of the world’s “most influential living management thinkers,” he has also been named by The Economist as one of the world’s “superstars” in a cover story on “Innovation in Emerging Economies.”

Jonathan Imme

Jonathan Imme is an entrepreneur, building platforms, spaces and communities to bring diverse people and their experiences together. His recent startup “The Arrivers” has set out to establish a new kind of CoLiving experience for city newcomers across Europe. In his past 33 years, he co-founded the Berlin-based innovation consultancy “ignore gravity”, co-published a print magazine, prototyped the future of work for the GenY with Deutsche Telekom, studied music business, managed a venture-backed glam rock band and worked on the digital transformation inside Universal Music & MTV.

Jonathan Stever

Jon Stever is the Founder and Managing Director of The Office and a co-founder of Impact Hub Kigali. Jon is a macroeconomist, social entrepreneur, writer, artist and community organizer. He designed Rwanda’s national climate change fund, FONERWA, and wrote Rwanda’s national debt policy, among other projects. He believes that true economic and social development is an inclusive, bottom-up process driven by communities.

GEORGIA NICOLAU

Georgia Nicolau is the co-founder and co-director of the Procomum Institute. She is an activist and a researcher in the fields of culture, arts, politics and citizen innovation. Between 2013 and 2016 she was the Director of Management, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Brazilian National Ministry of Culture and undersecretary of Creative Economy and Cultural Policies. Since 2013, she is part of the Global Innovation Gathering network, bringing together innovators and entrepreneurs from around the world, with a focus on the global South.

CHRIS MCCORMICK

Since 2008, Chris has worked as a researcher, workshop designer, actor and process leader in SPLINT. Previously his role was as a project manager in the construction and property industry, where he has 14 years of international experience. This combination has given Chris a unique insight into how interpersonal communication affects everyday life at work in different cultures, across roles and hierarchy.

With his understanding of experience design coupled with the use of situation training and forum theatre, Chris brings to the table a valuable perspective on creating successful collaborative cultures.

JUAN PABLO ORTEGA

Juan Pablo Ortega advises various firms on their innovation and business strategy. Previously, he has been working for Ruta N Medellin, a public joint venture fostering the city’s innovation ecosystem.

AGATHE FOURQUET

Agathe Fourquet is the co-founder of Usine IO, a hardware project acceleration service along with Benjamin Carlu and Gary Cigé. As a PR expert, she advised startups and Microsoft’s B2C and B2B divisions among other larger IT companies during 5 years. From 2012 to 2014, she directed the communication departments of two business clusters in the Paris Region: Cap Digital & Systematic Paris Region.

SONJA MIOKOVIC

Sonja Miokovic co-founded YouthfulCities a social enterprise leading a global movement of data-driven urban regeneration. As the Global Director of YouthfulCities, Sonja was responsible for engaging and activating 1000s of youth in the world’s largest cities in order to rank them from a youthful perspective. Over the course of four years, she oversaw the growth and development of this initiative from its infancy to successful expansion to 55 global cities. Her newest venture – Wonder.Lab – is a global network of social innovation labs that uses multidisciplinary teams, data, technology and creativity to generate innovations with social impact.

LIZ CORBIN

Liz Corbin is a researcher of materials and process based at the Institute of Making, the main focus of her PHD research being the emerging UK maker community in relation to cultures of practice and manufacturing. She has driven the formation and continual support of The Open Workshop Network, an informal member-run cooperative and digital platform that that exists to support and celebrate the diverse expertise, practices and interests of London’s highly diverse maker community

TAMAS HOVANYECZ

Tamas is passionate about how humans collaborate with each other. He creates spaces that allow the emergence of participation, self-organization and creativity. He is a co-founder in SocialFokus, a Budapest-based collective of conscious businesses and a contributor in the Wellington-based Enspiral. He is also an enthusiastic outdoor educator, teaching kids life skills through paddling and rock climbing in the South of France.

MARA BALESTRINI

Mara is a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) researcher and a technology strategist. She leads the Research Lab at Ideas for Change, a think tank and consultancy firm advising cities, businesses and institutions on innovation, open and collaborative strategies, civic tech, and exponential growth (see our frameworks @pentagrowth and @The Bristol approach). She is also a project manager at the Fab Lab Barcelona where she coordinates Making Sense, a European project that seeks to empower citizens through personal digital manufacturing applied to the design of environmental sensors.

GULRAIZ KHAN

Lecturer in Communication and Design, Habib University

Gulraiz Khan is a transdisciplinary designer who works on civic engagement in low-income communities. As an urbanist, he is interested in developing grassroots engagement methods that can help communities thrive through political and environmental flux. He is currently working as a Lecturer in Communication & Design at Habib University in Karachi, Pakistan. Prior to this, he received an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons The New School for Design in New York. He also serves at the Assistant Director for The Playground, the Centre for Transdisciplinarity, Design and Pedagogical Innovation at Habib University.

TOMAS DE LARA

Co-leader of Sistema B (B Corps Movement), co-founder Goma, (co-owning space and collaborative ecosystem of social entrepreneurs), initiator of Rio+B (coalition of organizations to foster sustainability in business) co-chair of Colaboramerica (International festival on new economies), Ouishare Connector for Brazil and co-founder of Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre’s Hub of Global Shapers Community from the World Economic Forum. A specialist on collaborative and sustainable economies, member of the board of Coca-Cola Brasil Foundation, teacher at several Brazil’s leading social innovation schools. Tomás is now focusing his research on new forms of organisations that foster the shift of old competitive EGOcentric paradigms to ECOcentric and purpose-driven businesses

CORINA ANGHELOIU

Corina Angheloiu is a design practitioner with a longstanding curiosity towards how systemic change can be fostered. Trained as an architect, she is currently exploring how design methods (ie. design thinking, speculative design, etc.) can enable and accelerate place-based systems change for sustainability. Previous to joining Forum, she set up the Bucharest-based NGO Poiana lui Iocan in the desire to establish an effective platform to exchange skills, experience and knowledge about collaborative city-making between her home country and the UK. She has been part of the development of the School of Systems Change, which is based on the premise that a global community of change agents is our best chance for accelerating a sustainable future.

ADAM YUKELSON

Adam is an action researcher, writer, and educator based in Cambridge, MA. In his work with the Presencing Institute, he equips change-makers with a framework and methods to reinvent the larger eco-systems in which they operate, and helps them reflect on, capture, and share what they learn with others. He is currently co-facilitating the edX course U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self with Otto Scharmer, and also writes and edits stories for the Presencing Institute website. In a research capacity, Adam has served as the learning historian for the Global Wellbeing and GNH Lab, the World Bank Collective Action Platform, and the 50-in-10 initiative (in partnership with the Sustainable Food Lab).

SUSAN BASTERFIELD

Susan Basterfield’s purpose is to end suffering in the workplace. As a Foundation Catalyst at Enspiral, a network practising continuous participatory change, and co-founder of Golden Pandas, her lived experience enhances her international work with organisations intent on actualising the workplace of the future. Proof that 25 years working in multi-nationals is a reversible condition, she is the co-author of Reinventing Startups and convenor of the Practical Self-Management Intensive.

PIETER VAN DE GLIND

Pieter van de Glind is a co-founder of shareNL, the Dutch knowledge and networking platform for the sharing and collaborative economy. Together with co-founder Harmen van Sprang and his team, Pieter works with startups, corporations, cities, governments and knowledge institutions in The Netherlands and abroad. All with the objective to further develop the collaborative economy.

PAOLA TUBARO

Researcher, CNRS

Paola Tubaro is a senior researcher at CNRS, Paris, France. She studies social networks and how they shape markets, organisations, consumer choice and health. Beyond computer-based social networks, she uses survey methods to capture face-to-face relationships and capture the multiple channels through which networks link us as individuals and groups. She has published in major journals in the field, including Social Networks and Network Science. She teaches the sociology of social networks at ENS in Paris, and has offered intensive social network analysis courses to PhD students and researchers in Israel, Sweden and the UK.

ARIANE CONRAD

Ariane Conrad is an editorial consultant and ghostwriter known as The Book Doula. She partners with thought leaders and superheroes across the globe to produce non-fiction books for mainstream audiences about world-changing ideas and solutions. She also helps refine their organisational strategies, and think through messages/narratives or programs/projects. Folks and books she’s supported include Van Jones (The Green Collar Economy, Rebuild the Dream), Annie Leonard (The Story of Stuff), Ai-Jen Poo (The Age of Dignity), Kennedy & Jessica Odede (Find Me Unafraid), and Rose McGowan (Brave- forthcoming).

EVAN HENSHAW-PLATH

Evan is a research affiliate at the center for civic media a the MIT Media Lab. He was the first employee and tech lead at Odeo where he helped create Twitter. He then helped start the civic tech ngo Data.uy and the open data conference AbreLATAM. He’s currently starting affinity.works, a platform of open-source tools to solve current grassroots organizing problems. His passion is in the space of new emerging start-ups and making the world a better place through civic technology projects.

TOMAS DIEZ

Tomas Diez, one of the founders of Fab Lab Barcelona, is an urbanist specialised in digital fabrication and the future of cities and society. He leads the FAB City Global Initiative and helps to run the Fab Academy program. He is also the European project manager for the Fab Foundation and co-founder of the Smart Citizen, FabLabs.io and StudioP52. Tomas has been appointed as one of the top 10 digital social innovators to watch in 2013 by The Guardian and Nesta.

BHARATI CHATURVEDI

Bharati Chaturvedi is concerned with urban poverty and environmental justice. She advocates for cities that are at the same time green, sustainable and inclusive for those who work in the informal sector. She has worked closely with a variety of Indian policymakers.

MEHDI MEDJAOUI

Mehdi Medjaoui makes API integration platforms to help developers discover and use external APIs in their applications. He also tries to define global web services trust metrics with anAPI rating agency for developers. Mehdi is also the organizer of the Paris API meetup and APIdays.io conferences (Paris, Madrid and San Francisco). Besides APIs, he loves dealer’s choice poker, playing cards and Mixed Martials Arts.

TOM LLEWELLYN

Tom Llewellyn is a lifelong sharer, commoner, and storyteller. He manages organizational, editorial, and events partnerships for Shareable and has coordinated the global Sharing Cities Network, and other community sharing campaigns, in addition to speaking internationally about real, equitable sharing.